1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to any high voltage commutation system such as employed in an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically, in the prior art, distributors for use with internal combustion engines have been generally configured so as to have a centrally located coil terminal maintaining constant pressure contact with a rotor element. The rotor element was generally an elongated conductive member mounted for rotation about a central axis, defined by the axis of a rotatable shaft to which the rotor element was mounted. The shaft communicated with the crankshaft of the engine so as to receive drive rotation therefrom. The central coil terminal was disposed above the rotor on the distributor cap and, upon assembly of the cap with the remainder of the distributor, the coil terminal was in constant pressure contact with the rotor at approximately the axis of rotation of the rotor. The other end of the elongated rotor element followed a circular path about the central axis and made sequential arc-gap conduction paths with spark plug terminal contacts disposed in a single plane configuration about the circular path of the rotor.
During the development of automatic electronic ignition systems, for controlling the precise timing of the high voltage discharge to each spark plug of an internal combustion engine, it was discovered that conventional distributors were not adequate to achieve the required degree of control for optimum operational efficiency.
Due to the relatively narrow angle of registration between a rotor contact and a spark plug contact in a conventional distributor, a problem to overcome was that of arc-over between the rotor and adjacent spark plug contacts when high voltages of approximately 35,000 volts, or more, were applied to the rotor. In the conventional rotor, where the spark plug contacts were circumferentially arranged to be sequentially registered for arc-gap conduction in a single plane by the rotor, there was a tendency for arc-over between the rotor blade and either of the two adjacent terminals if spacing therebetween was not sufficiently large.
One possible solution of the problem, was to separately mechanically advance or retard the point of registration in order to achieve a desired degree of operational efficiency. Of course, such mechanical adjustment would necessitate the inclusion of conventional centrifugal and vacuum advance mechanisms or other actuation mechanisms responsive to control outputs on the automatic electronic ignition system, to effect the mechanical advancement and retardation of the above-mentioned registration point.
A condition which restricted the solving of the problem was based upon a size parameter. The conventional distributor, as presently in production, is of a certain diameter which is taken into consideration in the placement of other elements on the engine. Therefore, it was desirable to solve the problem within the space devoted to a conventional distributor, for obvious economical reasons.